Field of the Invention
This invention relates to surgical endoscopes and industrial boroscopes and an illumination device used therein and, specifically, to an improved surgical endoscope and industrial boroscope that utilizes an LED light in combination with fiber optic bundles for illumination.
Description of Related Art
Surgical endoscopes have long been known for probing hollow organs. Likewise, industrial boroscopes have been used for investigating hard to reach places for industrial purposes. One of the important aspects of a surgical endoscope or an industrial boroscope is that it provides an optically clear view of the organ or area under investigation to someone that is looking through the endoscope or the boroscope in real time. Various types of illumination have been used with endoscopes and boroscopes in the prior art. One of the problems experienced with an endoscope or a boroscope is that the optical path from the eye of the user to the object or organ being investigated also needs to provide for illumination without interrupting the visual observation path. Thus, the end point of the endoscope or boroscope needs some form of illumination that does not interfere with the clear visual and optical path from the eye of the user to the object under investigation. U.S. Pat. No. 6,277,064 issued to Yoon on Aug. 21, 2001 shows a surgical endoscope that has a rotatably mounted offset shaft. This is to accommodate the illumination of the organ while, at the same time, not disturbing the optical view through the endoscope. By placing the illumination source, such as an LED, at the very end of the device on a separate shaft, the light source may not provide proper illumination distribution on the particular hollow organ or object being viewed. The present invention overcomes the problems shown in the prior art by providing a light illumination pattern that emanates around the optical path at the end of the endoscope or boroscope through the use of an LED light source mounted well up-stream and fiber optic strands that surround the optical, visual path terminating at a distal end and providing for a uniformly distributed light pattern.